Then leaving life, Earl Percy took The dead man by the hand, 'O Christ! my very heart doth bleed For sure a more redoubted knight The taste for preserving the old ballads rapidly grew, especially in the North, which was the land of their birth. John Bell, in his little book-shop on the quay at Newcastle, preserved and printed lines which of yore cheered the hearts and inflamed the passions' of his fellow-townsmen. He called his children after the heroes of the 'Chevy Chase,' a custom that marked the revival of the old ballads, and has since been followed by many who thus seek to connect their names with the age of chivalry, selecting either hero, according to the side of the Tweed to which they chance to belong. Bell's collection was afterwards purchased by Sir Walter Scott. About the time that Percy published his Reliques,' Horace Walpole lamented that the world had gone a long, long way beyond the possibility of writing a good song. All the words in the language had already been employed on simple images, without which no song can be good. But the miracle of a new birth is not only possible but necessary to the life of art, as it is essential to that of the individual in whom, if the spirit of faith, simplicity and truth is lost, and not by some means rekindled, the soul is dead even in this world. Molière shows us this. When the 'Misanthrope' heard his rival recite the verses that he had addressed to the lady for whose favour they were both contending, he assured him that such artificial and half-hearted sentiments are worth nothing: ce n'est point ainsi que parle la nature Nos pères tout grossiers, l'avaient beaucoup meilleur ; Reprenez votre Paris, J'aime mieux ma mie. Voilà ce que peut dire un cœur vraiment épris. A reaction had set in, and the world had wearied of the ponderous speech and writings of the eighteenth century, with its dull conventionality. There were, of course, literary giants in those days, but the rank and file, with their long-winded sentences and artificial sentiments, had become intolerable. Therefore the wigs of these puppets were sent flying, that human nature might once more be revealed. 1 Percy's maternal ancestor, John Cleveland, was a poet whom Milton's own nephew described as our 'chiefest English bard,' 1 yet he sacrificed future reputation to the false taste of the time, whereas Milton studied the simplicity of the ancients and gained immortal fame. Dr. Percy possessed a portrait of Cleveland painted by Fuller, whose picture of 'The Resurrection' at Magdalen College was celebrated by Addison. poet is represented holding a scroll of paper, on which is inscribed the title of his favourite poem, The Rebel Scot.' Percy said his poetry had no fault except that of Cowley, excess of wit.' 1 See Theatrum Poetarum, Lond., 1675. The To the poet Shenstone, at whose suggestion Thomas Percy had undertaken to collect the old ballads, the time seemed to be favourable for a revival of these poems. In the works of Akenside, Gray and Mason, the public had seen all that art could do; they wanted wild, pure, original, enthusiastic genius; they seemed to cry Oh, rather than be slaves to these deep-learned men, Give us our wildness and our woods, our huts and caves again. In the force and beauty of the ancient folk-lore, Shenstone found the very quintessence of poetry, a few drops of which, properly managed, are enough to give a flavour to a quart bottle.' He had himself long had the work much at heart, but he was 'infested by a kind of drowsihead and lentor,' to which he gives ' that disreputable name, Stupidity,' that unfortunately proved to be the forerunner of his last illness. Having seen the curious old folio manuscript that Percy had rescued many years previously, Shenstone advised him to undertake a work for which he considered him as well qualified as any man in England. He assured him of his willing co-operation, begging Percy to consider him as a mere music-master, whom he might employ to tune his harpsichord, or rather as one who would correct any want of simplicity, ease of style, or harmony in his writing. But two years before the work was published, death deprived Percy of the assistance of a friend with whom he was in such close sympathy, that he was enabled to write a description of the Leasowes, Shenstone's home, which he had never seen. In imagination he could safely wander among the entangled walks and the diversified prospects of his + Awit &-three visits * Perary paid to the Seast the other fall Heckt," Percy two in 1760, one in hard 1762. Sei Haus ཅན ག ག གླིང ཡེ སྤངདིས པར ན སྐྱེས པོ ས རྒྱ ཞེ 1 For a change, 103; 37, ·42, 43, 47, 85, |